Jonathan, Alex L and I went to the NEC yesterday, for a wander round the SALTEX show It was well attended and the exhibitors we talked to seemed, on balance, quite happy with the proceedings. These days, it feels mostly like an equipment show, with a great deal of impressive machinery for doing various things to unsuspecting grass plants (and to their artificial cousins as well, to be sure). However, there were quite a few of our friends and competitors there and it was good for me to meet them and continue building up an understanding of the industry.

The next similar event is BTME in Harrogate on 23-25 January. The one thing that was consistently suggested by the people we met, was that these two events ought to be amalgamated. But of course, it's two different organising associations and, although there is a great deal of overlap between audiences and exhibitors at the two events, there may be a certain amount of institutional pride and prejudice to be overcome in order to merge the events.

It was an interesting visit but it's clear that there is no need for us to take a stand there. For one thing, the NEC really isn't a very attractive place. No big exhibition centre really can be - especially not when it is the only really big site in the country. Next week Jonathan, Peter and Richard W will be off to Cologne (for the FSB fair). Every major German city has an exhibition centre like that - it is country where they take trade fairs seriously!